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Summer Reads

Trek to wild mountain peaks, cycle around the world, paddle Alaskan waters, and take a closer look at the nature within your city this summer with our top recommendations to add to your reading list. Read more…
Bookmarks | Peak Nutrition: Smart Fuel for Outdoor Adventure. An interview with Chef Maria Hines

Most people know Maria Hines for her culinary accomplishments. In 2005, she was named one of Food & Wine magazine’s 10 Best New Chefs, in 2006 she went on to open her first restaurant, Tilth, in Wallingford, and in 2009 she won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest. Read more…
Introducing The Mountaineers Statement on Climate Change

Since its earliest days, The Mountaineers has been committed to conservation and stewardship of wild places. That’s why we created our Carbon Footprint Reduction Committee, tasked with helping make sure that The Mountaineers and Mountaineers Books are doing our part to address the global climate crisis. Read more…
Thai Coconut Curry Vegetable Stew

Are you cooking at home more these days and need some healthy but delicious recipe suggestions? Whether you're an outdoor athlete looking to improve your performance or simply an at-home chef seeking to better your understanding of nutrition, Peak Nutrition will appeal to and inspire those interested in cultivating a healthy lifestyle in the kitchen and beyond. Read more…
All 2019 Braided River titles are Nautilus Award winners!

Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books, is proud to announce that out of more than 550 entries, all four of their 2019 titles were awarded Nautilus Awards. The Big Thaw: Ancient Carbon, Modern Science, and a Race to Save the World (Braided River, 2019) was also named the Grand Award Winner, which accompanies a $2500 grant award for the author and photographer. Read more…
Retro Rewind | Mountaineers Books: Fulfilling Our Mission, 60 Years and Counting

A squabble over climbing styles nearly tore The Mountaineers apart in its early years. Choosing instead to put differences aside, that turmoil spawned a text so seminal that it would come to be read religiously by aspiring climbers around the world. Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills is now seen by many as the pinnacle of climbing education material, and next to it since the beginning is the nonprofit publisher Mountaineers Books. Read more…
A Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,
This month of April marks the 60th anniversary of Mountaineers Books, an independent and nonprofit publisher based in Seattle. For sixty years we’ve been publishing books that educate readers about the outdoors, connect us all to wilderness places, and inspire everyone to find their own outdoor adventures. While we are widely known for our comprehensive and expertly researched guidebooks and instructional texts, we also have an extensive list of award-winning narratives—outdoor adventures, natural histories, biographies, memoirs, and more. Read more…
Create Your Own Victory Garden

Imagine a bowl of fresh vegetables glistening on your kitchen counter, ready to make the most nutritious and flavorful salad or curry or pizza. It would be even more nourishing if the lettuce, carrots, tomatoes and basil came from just a few feet outside your door. Read more…
Eating Healthy & Caring for Community during COVID-19: Join Thursday's web event

Spring has sprung and so has the growing season at local farms--all in the wake of the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak. The #WeArePugetSound book and campaign has been promoting different ways that people can show up to protect our environment in the Salish Sea. But we know a healthy environment requires healthy communities too. Read more…
Why Hornbein Gives: The Importance of Philanthropy in Nonprofit Publishing

When I asked Tom Hornbein about his relationship with reading over his 89-year lifespan, he didn’t answer, he simply rotated his computer forty-five degrees so I could see the room behind him on our Skype call. What was revealed was an entire wall of books, most of them about outdoor adventures, many of which were Mountaineers Books titles. Buried in his stack is surely his own book, Everest: The West Ridge, which follows his and partner Willie Unsoeld’s groundbreaking 1963 first ascent of Mt. Everest via the treacherous West Ridge. It doesn’t take a bibliophile to recognize that this collection is the mark of fervor; his ice axe long stowed, Hornbein now sits on a mountain of literature. Read more…